Chronicles of Rapture: Paradise Lost
by Sixth Ranger BetaHalo
Summary: Humanity is in the brink of extinction, we've been invaded by disguised tyrant in a savior's clothing. Rapture is the last truly HUMAN city, thanks to the efforts of five great warriors and their armies. in a desperate attempt to turn the tide, they embark on journey across the seas of time to prevent the birth of humanity's greatest enemy: Queen Of Atrocities, Serena
1. Lost World

"_This is Rapture Colony broadcasting on all emergency frequencies._

_Location: 28°23′18″N 80°36′13″W_

_There is no infection. Repeat, there is no infection._

_We offer security, food, and shelter._

_If you are out there, we'll find you._

_There is hope."_

* * *

_Sixth Ranger BetaHalo Presents:_

_In honor of a dear friend, RIP._

_Chronicles of Rapture: Paradise Lost._

* * *

[From the book, _'Foundation of Rapture'_ –Author Unknown]

And as we dwelled in our ambitions, the great ice came.

And with it, the hordes of abominations overran our world.

No human was shown mercy, be it man or woman, young or old. The abominations sought our annihilation and nearly accomplished it.

But with destruction, we also saw the seeds of salvation grow.

A man, using legendary power, opposed the monsters, and from the survivors he gathered under his wing, he chose four to become legends.

Together, the five legendary warriors drove off the abominations from our lands, allowing for us to rebuild our city, the ice no longer held our fate.

The Warriors, calling themselves 'Riders', gifted humanity with another chance, making the ice recede, once more giving life to our soil, returning life to those trapped by the ice.

And they called this beacon of hope: Rapture.

Where no man would give up his free will, where child would grow up knowing of the world their parents were forced out, knowing of their future ahead, knowing that they would be the ones to reclaim earth from 'them'.

Word from the east spoke of a tyrant, speaking lies to bewitch the unknowing, stripping them of free will with power unknown, a beacon of hope for those deluded.

A Jailer for a prison, for those who realized.

Her name: Serenity, Queen of Atrocities.

Using her power, stripping mankind of its free will, she sought to enslave our race for her own petty ambitions. Along with her King and Princess, they proclaimed themselves Royalty of a new era.

An era of disguised oppression, an era of blind slavery.

The Legendary Riders erected a wall around our city, forevermore would we not know of the raging blizzards our once beautiful planet threw at us. Once more, the warmth only the oldest remembered returned to humankind.

But the Queen of Atrocities would not stay complacent with her 'empire'. Disguised as concern, in greed she sent her mightiest warriors to our city.

They sought to enslave, to conquer, to crush us under their heels.

To make humankind go extinct to these 'Sheep'.

But the warriors knew not of our glorious Riders, they were not prepared for them, and in their complacence, they'd forgotten the fight.

But the Riders, _Rapture_ had been born from the flames of battle, all of those in the city had earned their right to live, having survived four Lunars* at least, the most recent had two Solars** behind in the barren ice.

Our city held, sending those who the Sheep called their mightiest back to their city, but Rapture did not stay complacent.

We researched; our warriors gave away knowledge to those without. The Rider gave away knowledge maybe that as well ought to belong to the gods.

So is as our warriors gained the steel that protects their bodies, the steel their use to safeguard our city, the steel they use to fend away the Sheep's attempts at conquest.

And our time comes, where our kind once again rules our world. Where no longer do we need to cower in fears of powers unknown.

Our Lost Eden.

Earth

Shall once again, return to its rightful hands.

Humanity's.

* * *

*Lunar: the Rapturian equivalent to our time's Months.

*Solar: The Rapturian equivalent to our time's Years.

YO, this is SRBH, this is a plot bunny that I couldn't take out of my mind.

So if you know your stuff, you shall by now know where this is going.

So I offer thee this, I need candidate for the other four riders, submit them via Review or PM, with which rider they become, reasons, a little bio from before the Ice, and at least two stories of them surviving the ice and any special abilities that they might've developed. It can be an Self-insert, such as mine, but try not to overpower them, cause mine really won't be.

Note, I'm not restricting this story to Japanese-only names, as you can see, it's not possible.

SO yeah, review. Leave some comment on how would you like this to go, or point me some directions on how I'm portraying the characters, cause believe me, I first saw Sailor Moon when I was a barely a brat, so I need to go to google and find some synopsis on the episodes to save on time (an need for brain bleach).

So, R&amp;R, Fight in the name of FREEDOM!

I'll see ya starside, SRBH, log out

PS. The next Chapter of KLR:OOO is going out soon, keep up with me, pretty please? With a pissed off horde of Kaijins on top?


	2. A New Beginning

_AN: sorry for the damn long wait! I'm alive! Even though Uni is a bitch right now and it's been eating away my time, I finally managed to finish another chapter for my stories!_

_Hopefully, I might be able to publish more chapters this winter vacations, but just in case, I will be releasing some chapters that've been ready for quite a while now but I'd not found time to post._

_Hope you like it, and if you locate the traces of what inspired me to continue this story, you get to participate on the OC contest I've been having since I wrote the prologue. The two (and only) submitters can now see what I've done with your characters, and hopefully, its close to what you envisioned. Once the contest is finished I shall release the names of the creators of their respective OCs, but congratulations to those who can spot them already._

_Please, read and review! Fight in the Name of freedom! And see ya starside!_

_Sixth Ranger BetaHalo, over and out._

* * *

_Pluck The Fruit of Heaven._

_That the world may be dyed in your image;_

_Is that the __Glory__ you seek?_

_Is that __Burden__ one you can bear?_

_Know this:_

_The lives of men are not ours to control, not even our own._

_We cannot defy the inexorable current of fate that carries us._

_But what if fate itself were to call you…_

_To change the world?_

_To turn the course of the Future?_

…

_You cannot defy your Fate,_

_But the fate of the world is in your hands!_

…

* * *

**Chapter 1**

…

(June 5th)

_There is nothing here. Except ice that is._

_Just like everywhere else._

_Fucking snow got in my boots last night, had a nice time drying my socks._

_Must stay quiet, I hear them around the entrance_.

…

…

(June 6th)

_Father always said to keep your guard up always._

_Guess that didn't work for him last time._

_Found some guns in the ice, some poor cop mauled by something, still had the shock on his face._

'_Course ice would keep it that way._

_Made it work, good ol' G18, might as well found tha holy grail._

_One and a half clip to feed it thought._

…

…

_Found more food on a bag._

_Bag belonged to a survivor, tho. Found him as a pancake on the other side of the room._

_Nice refuge by tha way, warm and cozy._

_No gun or ammo, just a broken hammer._

…

…

(June 11th)

_Found another cop. This one had a shotgun._

_Mossberg 500, and few shells, good enough._

_Found her wheels later, had a working radio. Joy._

_Heard something on the E-Band, might as well check it out later._

…

…

_No more of that weird signal, found some of __those bastards__ on the way._

_Loki and Moss got first blood on them, I'm proud._

_Cassidy's are back on the fray._

_What's left of __us._

…

…

(June 17th)

_Heard gunshots on the distance, no gun I know of._

_Bastards are getting more frequent, I think I hear voices or ATVs during time, might have eaten something bad._

_Found strange signal on again, but code's changed._

_They keep talking about sheep, damn things got lucky this time it seems._

_But they all mention this '__Rapture'_

_Their HQ perhaps?_

_Need to sleep._

…

…

…

(June 19th)

_Ran out of ammo for Loki, Cassy demands food._

_Found some people, dressed like morons, they all talked about needing support from the sen-something._

_Idiots, they are, walking through here only with robes from the middle ages._

_Saw them with warm food tho, might get lucky and get some._

…

…

_Saw two things:_

_Fellow sap approached robed people, asked for grub and roof._

_Found him later, dressed on those robes, preaching about the glory of tha queen._

_No go for food run._

_Other thing, girl in skimpy dress, miniskirt in this cold?_

_All people around her didn't leer, weird. Looked at her in worship, tho._

_New guy was all about her too._

…

…

(June 21st)

_Robed fellas got beaten; large pack of __those bastards__ got the jump on them._

_Out of twenty, five survived: the girl, three others and their FNG._

_Swear I saw them throw lights and flashy things at the bastards._

_Used swords on them too, didn't help._

…

…

(June 24th)

_Heard gunshots, Real gunshots, and large caliber ones._

_Skimpy girl began preaching about purifying something. Must've run out of water(?)._

_Could be, but them the other fellas began praying to 'Serenity'_

_New religion in the middle of this shit?_

_People are truly stupid._

…

…

(June 26th)

_Found a little warehouse, lots of food, Security guards had more ammo for Loki._

_Found more clothes and some googles, nice._

_Heard more on the radio I found, seems like a colony of survivors._

_Think they are looking for something…_

_Or someone._

…

**[_Survivor's Journal. _Author's perspective is similar to (Redacted)]**

* * *

"Are you still reading that, Professor?"

A certain man looked up from the tattered diary on his hands; the voice kept speaking without looking at him.

"Professor, you're still the de facto governor of Rapture, why can't you be a little more responsible?"

The man sighed; running a hand across his greying hair, despite looking like being only in his early twenties, the stress of the whole situation around was enough for that little effect. Not that he minded, of course.

"There hasn't been a Sheep sighting on weeks, neither one of the Youma's patrols. I feel like I could relax a little" the man spoke; he returned the courtesy by not turning to face the one he was talking to.

"No matter, there are still tons of projects going around that need your supervision, you cannot afford to slacken, Professor, you founded this city, you have to keep it running"

The man let out an annoyed sigh and replied.

"For the first, I still need Ryugen's reports on the new in the new training regime results of the KRKG Divisions, and for the latter…"

He turned now to face his guest, sporting a tired face along with a strange looking belt on his hip and an old-fashioned cell phone in hand.

"For the latter, well, Mr. Guevara couldn't have said it better: it's easier leading a revolution than governing a country"

The man exited the room, leaving his guest the most annoyed at his eccentricities.

The man walked towards a certain building, wearing a simple lab coat over a blue shirt and jeans, using a little oversized red buckle with something attached to the front. And despite the casualness of his clothes, people greeted him with utmost respect, like one would if a king was visiting his subjects.

In a sense, he was.

The belt and coat only pushed his hierarchy further, where he would simply be treated like the supreme governor he was, the coat showed he was one of the few minds that had participated on the foundation of the city back during the Great Freezing, the belt screamed at the people watching him his role was not only in the labs, but in the field, fighting against the hordes of abominations that once freely roamed the wastelands surrounding the city.

The 'professor' kept walking, only slowing down to return greetings or check the situation with certain individuals passing by, making sure there were no ill, that the rations were enough, that no tools were lacking, etc.

But he didn't stop for too long until he reached his destination, a dark green prefab building labeled as 'Military Barracks'. He took out his weird cell-phone and passed it over a scanner next to the door's handle; the device beeped and allowed the man in.

There were quite a lot of people inside, considering that the city was now shy from having seventy thousand people inside, having started from barely one thousand. It spoke how much people desired to be together.

Well, that, and the other alternatives to surviving the wastelands was get your own city, or giving up your freedom to 'Her Majesty', it was no wonder that most of the survivors out there had chosen Rapture as the place to rebuild human civilization.

The professor saluted the two guards standing next to the security post right next to the door, the reasoning behind this arrangement was for the ease of setting ambushed and avoiding that any intruders might pose as the guard during check ins.

The guard returned the salute, and went back to their terminals. The professor allowed them to and turned back to his task at hand.

Find Ryugen and get him to hand over those damn reports.

The professor found Ryugen in the shooting range, practicing with her Budou Ryhou, using its magnum function to breeze through the advanced survival simulation that barely anyone in the KKG-Division had been able to get the chronometer to 1:01 minutes.

"Setting a new record, aren't we?" the professor asked with a fake smile plastered on his face.

"Why yes! I managed to hit the 2300 mark with this gun, and didn't even use a finisher! Of course I never managed to get to the professor's record and… oh"

"Oh indeed, Ryugen, I must ask, why are you making me look for you when you had to send me those reports yesterday, hm?"

"Er… I… Forgot?"

The professor's eyebrow twitched somberly.

(Fifteen minutes of scolding _layter_…)

"…and that's the importance of you handing over your reports on the set dates, d'accord?"

"Yessir…"

"Good, then let's get going, I still need those reports by tonight"

Both went back to the professor's lab. There, another team of guards saluted both and opened the doors for them. Waiting there was a young man with a single sword strapped to his belt, not unlike those in the professor and Ryugen's waists', his eyes looked at them with questioning but never spoke anything.

"Baron, sorry, about the delay"

"No problem professor, it seems like someone though about besting you in the shooting range… I still want to know with you never went military with those skills of yours, professor. Could've become a damn fine sniper with that eye of yours… no offence, Ryugen" he said, almost like an afterthought.

"None taken… Banana-man" She retorted.

"I am Baron!" he replied hotly.

"Your motif is a banana, it's your fault for choosing that lockseed."

"Not my fault that it's armament suits me the best…"

"And I can't deny that you are one heck of a lancer, but Ryugen, please, would you kindly shut up and finally hand over those reports so I can get Baron moving?"

"Yeah, yeah…"

Ryugen produced some folded papers from her vest's breast pocket, which she handed to the professor, who looked them over and handed them to Baron.

Baron simply eyed them and let himself smile slightly.

The professor simply looked at Baron and grinned too. "I take it that it could use some… _Improvements_?"

"Indeed, look forward to a boost on deployment efficiency."

"Both of you are such sadists with the rookies…" Ryugen quipped.

" " As if you weren't" "

"…" the professor did have the decency to blush a little, but hey, the rookies didn't even know how to line up a shot! He had to train them from scratch.

In everything, this was a common day among the government of Rapture, Most forward outpost and city of the Rapturian Republic, also, its capital.

* * *

Rapture.

The last human City on Planet earth.

The year is unknown, but the surviving computers have counted at least one hundred and twenty years since the last city was founded.

The Rapturian Republic, an autonomous country formed by large repurposed complexes on the sea; it began as a simple contingency plan. The causes that led to this were unknown, but it is theorized that during the second or third decade of the twenty-first century, a detonation on-masse of almost every single nuclear reactor and weaponry created an eternal nuclear winter. That also explains (albeit barely) how the abominations that even now roam the wastelands of what once was a brilliant planet.

The Republic had somehow survived the Big Freeze, the nuclear winter created by the nuclear bombs and reactors of the whole world going off at almost the same time. Then, they began sending expeditions to the mainland, mostly the US, but they also created several beacons in other places in Cuba and Mexico, and some in Europe and Asia. The objective was to keep the survivors that reached the beacons safe from the abominations born from the radiation.

Using advanced technology, the republic retreated safely behind powerful shields that protected its denizens from the fallout, the refuges activating and raising their own shields on their bunkers. Thanks to that, about 8 million people survived the Freeze.

Why no more survived was due the actions of some cult bent on wiping out the chances of humanity surviving. Infiltrating the bunkers and sabotaging them, causing life support systems to fail, they managed to kill a round 3 million people. Survivors of those bunkers told stories of these cult members as heavily mutated people, perhaps from the radiation out there. Humanity's remnants would stay thirty years underground waiting for the eventual time when radiation would lower enough to venture to the surface.

The company behind the creation of these bunkers, YGGDRASILL Corporation, had been one that had developed the technology that would later allow humanity to survive the big freeze, although some pointed it out that said tech had been created BEFORE the freeze, most didn't give a damn and used it freely. Mass produced radiation suits (AN: Imagine the RIG from dead space), EMP-proofed electronics, the self-sustaining food growing devices (Hydroponics had become viable and there were some capable of growing meat), their storage devices, water recycling machines (the water treatment was something Yggdrasil had invested on a lot) and CO2 scrubbers, but most important, the bunkers and their shielding.

Tons of countries had demanded that the technologies were freely given, but the corporation had mysteriously held back, citing that the patents were there for a reason, and for the next forty years, Yggdrasil was the only one with the rights to build the entire tech it'd developed.

But when the freeze hit and barely any government was left, the human remnants had already familiarized with the tech, which helped them to navigate the now barren wastelands the continents were turned into. Some rumors said that the area right next to Australia had become a desert of salt.

But while the human remnants awaited their return, some cult began forming, a self-proclaimed messiah that spoke about salvation from the wastelands, that she, for she was a female, would be the light of hope that the human race needed in these dark times.

Having come out before any of the fully operational bunkers opened, she began capitalizing on those been sabotaged the days following the Freeze. Curiously, most of the sabotages occurred in the parts of Asia. Indeed did these become dark times, as this self-proclaimed 'Queen' rose, and by using some unknown technology, she began enslaving and according to the rumors, there was something akin to brainwashing. Families that by pure determination survived the freeze in the sabotaged bunkers were torn apart not by forces of atom, but by the ravings of a madwoman.

But from the ashes of despair, there was hope. Broadcasts world-wide from the beacons gave humankind a reason to fight. Paramilitary forces guarded the beacon-housing facilities from the Cult that somehow still operated and the abominations born from the radiation. And while some fell to the overwhelming forces of the monsters (dubbed Youma, from those surviving anime-versed people) and the craftiness the Cult followers, a lot of them still held, and for their valor, they were rewarded.

Here the details turn sketchy, but it was spoken that with the evacuation ships that would ferry the survivors to the then unknown city-estate of Rapture, came mysterious soldiers called 'Armored Riders'. Rumors spoke of these 'Riders' annihilating hordes of Youma that would otherwise have destroyed the Evac Points, how using weapons taken right out of a children's show they stood as fearless shields against the hordes of Youma (which by now, somehow numbered in the millions).

The Armored Riders almost never spoke with the survivors, but given that they protected the evacuees, and their voices, most assumed they were humans given the right tools for the task.

And right they were.

Even now. Several centuries after the evacuations finished. There will always be a call for help from the evac points, as some group of people from the sabotaged bunkers that didn't make it in time manages to get there and reactivate the distress signal.

Problem is, not only Rapture is out there, the same self-proclaimed messiah, now 'Queen' of her little kingdom, would also rush to the distress signals, sometimes succeeding in arriving before Rapture's Armored Riders get in time and stop her from getting a fresh batch of slaves.

Today, Rapture Republic and the 'Moon kingdom' (the result of the 'Queens' labor after all these years) are at war, both against each other and against the hordes of Youma that still roam the wastelands.

But there would always be more to that war than just a conflict of ideals.

There always is.

**[Introduction of _Songs of Dying Earth, _a book telling about the Big Freeze and the foundation of the Rapturian Republic, printed in Rapture, year 2199]**

_**To be continued…**_


End file.
